Whistler Snow Lodge - Supporting Whistler Community Foundation

INVISIBLE THREADS

What gives a place its vibe? The people, the architecture, the natural beauty? Why do you feel what you feel when you step out of a cab in New York, a water taxi in Venice or a gondola in Whistler?

In each place, there are invisible threads that help create - and more consequentially sustain - a destination's unique character. And in Whistler we were happy to find, meet with and now donate to one of these threads. A little community foundation that supports this mountain town and makes it a vibrant yet down to earth place where visitors want to keep coming back and where some decide it is so awesome that they stay for good.

That thread is the Whistler Community Foundation. And on a super snowy morning in a cute little coffee shop in Whistler village, we met with Claire Mozes, the woman who runs this community building foundation, to hear first hand the incredible work they do for the Whistler community.

NOMAD GIVING: WHISTLER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Whistler Community Foundation describes itself like a long-term savings account for the community. “Our objective is to help donors give back to the community in a way that creates personal meaning for them and impact on the community.” And for us and the Nomad brand, their Environmental Legacy Fund especially had that personal meaning.

The Environmental Legacy Fund at the Whistler Community Foundation was established in 2001 and has been working towards providing environmental benefits to the Whistler community. To date, this fund has granted close to $1.7 million to charitable organizations whose programs and projects focus on protecting Whistler’s environment.

As we sipped our coffee, Claire told us one story of how the grant helped. The story starts 45 years ago when a gentleman named Karl decided to start glacier monitoring in the Whistler area. For years he would go up into the mountains to the Wedgemount Glacier and not only collect critical data on the glacier but also learn tons about the flora and fauna of the region. Eventually though he did need someone else to take over this important work and this is where the Whistler Community Foundation stepped in. With grants from the Environmental Legacy Fund and connections in the community, a new younger generation research team was formed to whom Karl will be handing off this critical work.

With the launch of the Whistler Snow Lodge palette, we are donating 5% of the retail sales to the Environmental Legacy Fund at the Whistler Community Foundation. And these donations to will continue for as long as the palette is sold.

We love the story about Karl and his work as it shows so clearly how the Whistler Community Foundation is an important thread that brings together and supports it residents to do things that make their community great. And although not a part of the Whistler community every day (although we wish we could be) we are super happy that with the launch of the Whistler Snow Lodge palette, we can support the awesome Whistler Community Foundation and their Environmental Legacy Fund!

TRACKER: OVER $2,000 COLLECTED FOR DONATION